I’ve already written a post about the cards we DIDN’T get, but how about the cards we DID get?
I think you’ll find the trends of what I talk about in our personal strategies. Mostly earning miles over hotel points, and earning miles on airlines that don’t pass on fuel surcharges when redeeming miles (United and AA). But here are some of the cards and bonuses we got this year…
100,000 AA Miles Executive Card (both Carrie & I)
This card was a step back to the good old days in terms of how quickly you could get the card again. It gave $200 credit on first statement, and then the annual fee kicked in at $450. You could think of it has a $250 fee (or for some just $200 profit). Either way, totally worth it for 100,000 AA miles.
It not only gave 100,000 AA miles, and $200 credit… it gives access to all AA’s Admirals Lounges. Not the most luxurious lounges in the world, but still a great perk for as long as you have the card.
Obviously not a keeper card, for those who still have it. But I hope the 100k bonus comes back for another round.
50,000 AA Miles Business Card (Drew)
Between two cards now I’m up to 163,000 AA miles. There is currently an AA 50k personal card and business. 50k, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. Both the personal and business cards are great options. The personal cards we had just gotten, so it was time for a business card again.
70,000 Point Ink Plus (Carrie)
70,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is a lot as Chase UR points are some of the most valuable points in the game. Normally the bonus is at 50k, but it went up to 70k a few months ago and finally pushed us to get this version of the card. The annual fee is indeed waived for the first year, so it’s always a “why not?” situation, but with 70k, it’s more like “how could I not?”.
25,000 point Starwood SPG (Carrie)
There hasn’t been much drawing us to Amex this year, but since the SPG card was new to us, Carrie was allowed to get it. Nothing spectacular but wanted to have the SPG option if needed. This card’s $65 annual fee is also waived for the first year.
40,000 points Barclay World Arrival (Carrie)
40,000 Barclay points = $400 of travel reimbursement. It works quite easily to reimburse travel expenses, but the best part is that you earn 2 points per dollar on everything spent. So it’s like 2 cents of travel per dollar. Actually, a little better than that since you get 10% of your points back when you use them. It’s like 2.2 cents… (Also has an annual fee waived for the first year).
55,000 United Miles Explorer Card (Carrie + Drew)
The United card came back with it’s 50k card and, as always, gave another 5k for adding an authorized user. Again, the annual fee is waived, and I absolutely love United miles. If you’ve had the card before, I believe you can apply again 24 months after your first application. So the United Explorer card is hoping to win you back with these big bonuses.
50,000 point Citi ThankYou Premier Card (Drew)
I actually just applied so I haven’t seen the card, but I know I got a 50k Citi card. :-p Citi now transfers to a number of airline programs, like Air France. If we do a Tahiti trip, 60k could get us both oneways there. I’ve seen the light in terms of Citi TY, but I just haven’t made huge efforts yet. Annual fee is waived for the first year as well.
50,000 point Southwest Personal and Business (Carrie)
As you may know the Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best airline credit card benefits. If you earn 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, one person gets to fly with you for the rest of that year, and all through the next. Both on cash or points tickets, the companion ticket is free (+ airport taxes which is $5 domestically). This is a no brainer for us to connect our spread out families. This card has a $99 annual fee.
85,000 Club Carlson points (Drew)
As you may know I have gone through heavy Club Carlson stages because they are so darn generous in earning and redemptions. It’s a great combo for free nights. But the best part is that the credit card has a perk that gives a free night per award booking of 2 nights or more. So I always book two night stays, and always pay half of what I would in points. We just spent two nights in the Radisson Blu Budapest for 15,000 points, which would have been the price of one night.
2 Free Hilton Nights with Citi Hilton Reserve (Carrie)
This is totally a play towards the possibility of going to French Polynesia. I would love to spend two nights at the Hilton Bora Bora or Hilton Moorea. Although normally I wouldn’t want to spend $95 on an annual fee and a hard pull to get two nights… Heck I try to average $30 a night. But clearly, you’d be spending much more in French Polynesia, so we’ll see. If we go, it will have been a good decision.
Conclusion
I know there are more cards we applied for, but I either can’t think of them, or it’s just more of one of the cards mentioned above… which is very likely. But I was worried this list wouldn’t be a fair representation of what we would normally recommend, due to having run out of cards. Yet, I’d say it’s a pretty solid list of cards I’d recommend to anyone. Probably not the Hilton Reserve, but most of the others.
Of course bonuses change, but I still always try to earn AA miles, United miles, Chase UR (for United miles), Amex MR, and Citi TY. I will not pass those up if it’s free. From there, I still want other miles like BA Avios, Flying Blue miles, etc… but I earn them less aggressively.
The above is a proud list of cards I’d recommend to anyone (except the Hilton Reserve). What big bonuses are we missing from 2014?
How do you earn MR points?
Well… we didn’t at all this year. It’s tough because I’m not eligible for many of their cards since you can only get em once.
Don’t you need a card to use/transfer them?
So not to pawn you off to other posts, but this post covers it really well.
travelisfree.com/2014/10/07/faq-what-credit-cards-earntransfer-to-frequent-flyer-miles/
Gives all transfers and which cards allow transfers to miles.
Which card do you keep to transfer? I recall you were not a fan of the Everyday.
How did you get the annual fee waived for the Chase Ink? I got it too for 70K, but the fee is $95.
The fee is just waived for the first year. I assume it was for you as well, no?
You say these cards are “free” but AFAIK they all have minimum spend requirements to get the bonus. Do your normal spending habits for your travel lifestyle allow you to meet the minimums or do you have some other sort of “strategy” for spending that helps you meet them without paying fees and such?
I’m also very interested to know this! Thanks for asking, Andrew.
Well, I can say that what I have done in the past is applied for cards the month before I swing through the states, and then again right before I’m there. Then I collect all my cards and do all the spend.
We tend to do low fee stuff on miles cards though. IDK, it’s just never been a big deal to me.
Fan of Citi TY points? Do elaborate.
Like this:
travelisfree.com/2014/10/27/unveiling-flying-blue-air-france-klm-miles-101-and-best-uses/
great read! Thanks for writing it. A good piggyback article would be the turn around timetable for reapplying to these cards after you’ve already closed them in the past.
Carrie’s blog might do that soon.
Ritzs-Carlton is the card both of U should have considered. 280K Marriott points would have gotten you a week in a cat 6 hotel and 110K United miles. The $790 fee for both cards would have gotten U $600 in reimbursement for 2014 and $600 reimbursement in 2015 before U cancelled both cards.
It’s $300 towards travel fees, like baggage and what not. I don’t have typically have $300 of checked bags to reimburse. So to me… it’s just paying the annual fee. Unless you can use to book IHG hotels or something?
Otherwise, I don’t see any use of the $300/year. Definitely see the appeal of 280k Marriott! I just need to know what I can actually use the points for, without going and finding uses that I wouldn’t normally spend on.
I was reimbursed for gift cards, taxes and what not. All the travel U do, I’d bet you have $1,200 in taxes and fees per year!
Okay, so it is any travel expense? Any hotel?
And how are you getting $1,200? It’s $300 a calendar year.
If you would have “both” gotten the card in December, 2014, you both could have received a $300 reimbursement for 2014 which equals $600. In 2015 you both could get $300 reimbursement which equals $600. $600 + $600 = $1,200. … then cancel the cards so you don’t pay the $395 again. You end up $410 ahead and a stash of 280K points.
True, I used this benefits for taxes on an award ticket through LHR (ugh) on UA metal. Totaled $250 + $25 for booking over the phone… all came back to me after a short conversation with the agent.
Ever been to the Seychelles? Your two free nights would be well used at Hilton Labriz.
Nope, never been. But I kept trying to get it to work on the last few mistake fares. All the airlines went there but it just didn’t price out the way I wanted. I would if I could get a cheap ticket from NBO this April.
approved for Chase Sapphire card on 5/2013 & hub on 4/2013, can we apply again and get bonus.
No. I believe Chase doesn’t let you get the same card within 24 months of even canceling the card. Still a good card. 😀
Drew — Just stumbled on your blog — great resources, thanks for sharing. I’m very new to this, but wondering how you find out when a credit card is having a special miles/points promotion versus their standard?
Thanks!
Will you be posting anything on the best cards for 2015 anytime soon?
How soon after getting the bonuses do you cancel the cards? Do you cancel all your cards after getting the bonus? Are there any cards you keep “forever”? Do you have a post explaining the process of getting/canceling cards?